Annabel by Kathleen Winter

4/5 stars.
ebook, 480 pages.
Read from June 12 to 21, 2014.

I’m literally one book away from finishing all the Canada-Reads nominations of 2014. I am impressed with the diverse content between all of the books up unto this point, however, Annabel has had the most beautiful plot so far.

Jacinta Blake gives birth to an inter-sexed child in a small village in Labrador, Canada in 1968. While her husband, Treadway is out trapping as usually does for most of the year, Jacinta’s friend Thomasina is the only other person present. While Jacinta and Thomasina want to let the child live as it has been naturally born, when Treadway comes home he decides that the child will be raised as a boy. They name him Wayne.

Jacinta struggles with decision and reluctantly takes Wayne into the hospital as baby to have surgery in order to make him a boy. This is also followed by massive concoction of hormones that he will have to continue to take for his entire life

Thomasina lost her husband and daughter, Annabel, while they were out on a canoe trip and comes to secretly call Wayne by the name Annabel when just the two of them are together.

The story progress through some heart-retching scenes as Wayne grows up. At one point he is hospitalized because he is menstruating, but because he had surgery as a baby there is no where for this menstrual blood to go, causing immense pain and discomfort for Wayne.

Out of all the characters, it’s Wayne who holds the most grace with his situation. He doesn’t learn what he is until he is a teenager but he lives a somewhat normal childhood. His parents were however racked with questions, fears and frustration that they are often unsure how to deal with. Each of them feeling isolated with the knowledge of what Wayne is. It’s ultimately Wayne’s brave decision that relieves and brings the family together again.

Inter-sexed people are more common then most people recognize and it’s a hard concept for some to accept. We grow up with the belief that we are either male or female, but the idea of someone being or both is foreign to many of us. The story of Wayne could be about any inter-sexed child and their family and for some, without a story like Annabel, would not have a basic understanding of what an inter-sexed person has to go through.

Annabel is a testament to great Canadian fiction and brings an in-depth perspective of growing up inter-sexed.